The Nintendo 64 didn’t have the third party support of the PlayStation, but Iguana’s Turok series ruled the FPS roost for the platform’s entire life cycle. The 1997 original turns 20 this month, so let’s examine the booming, epic scores of the four N64 hits.

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8 Responses to “VGMpire 131 – Turok Turns Twenty”

Turok 1 on N64 was one of those games that just really clicked with me and my mate. Arguably it was due to the classic scenario of just having less games to play and much more spare time but we played the shit out of it! Nice to hear the music again – its def better than I remembered. Really enjoyed the last couple of episodes as well. Long live VGMpire!

Loved the episode. Damn, it’s great to have someone other than myself question what was up with Rage Wars. I loved the first couple Turoks and when RW came out I was completely baffled. Who exactly was that game for?? Keep up the great work Brett!

Loved the episode. The soundtracks for the first two games are so good, and the franchise as a whole has so many hilarious abominations for enemies its breathtaking. Also, for Turok: Evolution, Acclaim held a contest that would award the first couple to name their newborn child as Turok with a million dollars. I have no idea how that turned out.

The heavy drums in the first level of the first game made hunting down jerks in the jungle incredibly fun. If you only used the knife, you would get bonuses after taking out a certain amount of enemies and I would spend hours getting lost in the jungle and taking out the endlessly respawning humans, collecting bonuses, and laughing like an idiot the whole time.
There’s a scene in one of the Dark Tower books where drums are heavily featured in the City of Lud. Because I still don’t know the actual song they mention, the song from the Ancient City always served as a stand in.

I enjoyed this! I played a bunch of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on N64 back in 4th grade (borrowed from a class mate). I distinctly remember cracking up at launching rockets at humanoid enemies and listening to their death screams.

Good timing on this episode, too, ’cause the game is $5 on sale on GOG.com! Picked it up yesterday.

I also played a bit of Turok 2 on N64 but I agree that the framerate really makes it hard to play these days.

Musically I love “Port of Adia” and agree that while the other stuff isn’t super memorable it’s still really good. Love that percussion.

Besides 1 & 2 I recall my friend renting the Turok game on Gamecube. I don’t remember much of it besides Turok’s weapon getting coated with blood after using it on an enemy. I also played the 2008 Turok demo and thought it was okay.

The recent update of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is the vastly superior way to revisit a very aged game. The draw distance is far FAR more than 10 feet, PC controls and aiming are better, the colour palette is brighter and saving anytime makes the platforming tolerable. I enjoyed it.

Considering the second is remembered more fondly, I’m very interested to try an update to that title more so.